G.2, Eliminate attachment:

Even transmigrating from human life

to human life, enjoying the best of all births,

countless times one must undergo birth, old age, sickness, and death.

This degenerate age is affected by impurities and many obstacles.

The happiness and contentment of even

human beings and devas is like food mixed with poison –

may I be without even the slightest desire for this.

Although most people want happiness in life, in reality there is no benefit. Even if one can be reborn from a human as another human, one still has to experience the immeasurable sufferings of being born initially, aging in the middle, sickness finally, and death in the end. These matters have been described in the previous sessions. The rich suffers from seeking, keeping, and experiencing the destruction of wealth; the poor suffers from lack of means, despair, and seeking; high-ranking officials suffer from desire for high positions, worry of losing one's position, etc. No matter what kind of person one is reborn into, he will not have peace and happiness.

Especially in today's degenerate age, everything changes unpredictably like a wild horse turning over, no one knows when it will happen. Most people who one meets do not follow the Dharma. For example, owls will go around madly when the sun sets. Similarly, when the Dharma is about to disappear, ugly people with seriuos negative karmas are born into the world, the heretics that cause famine, disease, and war become more rampant progressively, and the Dharma that brings peace, joy, happiness, and truth is gradually disappearing. As Guru Padmasambhava said, "When ominous comets or stars appear in the sky, bigoted sects start fighting. When the mountains and the earth make ominous sounds, wars spread across the borders into the central region (Tibet). When the true Dharma teachings are not heard, an evil Mara appears in each area." He also said, "When people's attire changes suddenly, people from the border regions will go into Tibet. When famine, epidemics, and wars are rampant, sentient beings can only take refuge in the mountains." He also said, "When sentient beings commit misdeeds, earthquakes and thunderstorms occur. When there are disputes among the monasteries, troops from the border region come into the central region. When Han Chinese are everywhere within the territory, Tibet has no freedom..." This refers to the degeneration of the time.

In addition, the five poisons becoming very serious is the degeneration of afflictions; the short and uncertain lifespan of human beings is the degeneration of lifespan; the serious wrong views are the degeneration of views; the mind continuum of sentient beings is difficult to tame is the degeneration of sentient beings. At this time when the five degenerations are more rampant, no matter which aspect one considers, it is only something that invokes aversion.

Especially (now) in the time of the degeneration of the Dharma and the degeneration of sentient beings, practicing the Dharma will run into many difficulties, as (Padmasambhava) said: "When the evil Mara's false teachings flourish, there are many obstacles to practicing the Dharma." Venerable Atisha also said: "The Maras are good at flattery and deception, they seduce the greedy with money, deceive practitioners with false Dharma, seduce the lax with singing and dancing, seduce many with youthful beauty, seduce many with finery and accessories, deceive many with unvirtuous friends and enemies..."

Reflecting on these teachings, it seems that having a human body in such a degenerate age is not as good as being reborn as an animal in a virtuous Kalpa. We must be cautious and careful.

Perhaps some people think that this is exaggerated, it should not be so serious.

But how can diseases be cured and people be saved by saying sweet words only? Look at the world of the current age, all ordinary people and fools regard suffering as happiness. If one says a little bit of the truth, it will be easy for those who have the karmic conditions to start feeling aversion to samsara. It can be seen that the happiness and peace of the human and heavenly realms are like food mixed with poison, with suffering intermixed with happiness and unable to be separated. Therefore, we hope we have no desire for this and let go of it completely now.

All relatives, food, wealth, and companions

are illusory like a dream –

may I be without even the slightest

desire for them.

In fact, our homes we have now are like insect holes. By reasoning, there is nothing to not give up about them, but people with serious negative karma are like pigs and dogs liking filth and holding on to it tightly. These people are really pitiful! Let's look at the practice of the great compassionate teacher Buddha Shakyamuni, who once gave up all the glory and wealth of the throne like getting rid of saliva and attained enlightenment, and Guru Padmasambhava also gave up inheriting the throne of his father, King Indrabhuti, and attained the fruition of Vajradhara, and other noble ones in the past! In ancient times, a official in Xinlong abandoned his family and moved to another place for fear of being persecuted. Thinking of such sufferings in the degenerate age and the sufferings in future lives, what else can't be given up? Please reflect on this deeply. 

In addition, if one is attached to his family and friends, he will be reborn into a demon or ghost among them (after death). So one must not be attached to the enemies of liberation (referring to family and friends).

If one has greed for food (he will continue to be attached to it after death). Some relevant koans are as follows:

It is said that there was an old monk in a monastery in Yaduo. In the autumn, he bought a yak leg. He clung to it and was unwilling to eat it, and stored it in the woodshed. After he died, the rest of his property and food were all donated. But every night, people could see a yak leg being chased by a pack of dogs running around the temple, and then returning to the old monk's home. Patrul Rinpoche, who was in retreat at the time, said: "It seems that a yak leg is stored there. You can perform a smoke ritual with it." In this way, everything became peaceful again.

Another child died young. When a realized guru performed rituals for him, the child's spirit kept running into the butter bucket. The master said (to the family): "Look at what's in the bucket?" It turned out that there was a baked flatbread that someone gave him (the child). When the guru burned the flatbread in a smoke ritual and dedicated, he was able to liberate him.

Koans relevant to the attachment to wealth and properties:

In the past, there was a wealthy patron in Sarnath. He earned seven gold vases after doing a lot of business. Because he was stingy, he buried the seven gold vases in the ground. After his death, he was reborn as a poisonous snake  guarding the gold vases. Eventually, the city was empty. The snake experienced many deaths and was reborn as a snake again and again, twining around the gold vases. For tens of thousands of years, it continued to be reborn as a snake next to the gold vases. Finally, one day, it realized that it had been reborn with a terrible body because of its greed for gold. This gave rise to a feeling of disgust. So it hid in the grass by the roadside and called out to a passerby. The man looked around but saw nothing. The snake called out again, "Come to me!" The man (saw it,) and said, "You are a venomous snake and will hurt me. I dare not go over." The venomous snake said, "If I want to hurt you, even if you don't come over, I can still hurt you." The man went there trembling. The snake said to him, "I have seven gold vases here. Please take them to offer to the monks." The man put the snake in a box and brought it to the monks. He bought flowers and food with the gold to offer to the monks. The snake also looked up happily, and listened to the Dharma. After its death, it was reborn in the thirty-third heavens. The snake was a past life of Venerable Shariputra; the man was a past life of the Buddha.

A bhikkhu was attached to his alms bowl, and was reborn as a snake in the bowl after his death. His family offered the alms bowl to the Buddha. When the Buddha wiped the bowl, the snake inside was extremely angry and jumped into the forest. The fire of anger ignited in its mouth and the forest was burned to the ground. After the snake was burned and killed by forest fire, its consciousness was burned by the fire of hell. the bhikkhu's body was burned in the crematory. Three big fires were flamed up in one day due to the attachment to one object.

It is said that a bhikkhu was attached to his exquisite turquoise, and was reborn as a frog after his death. Its four limbs tightly held the turquoise and would not let anyone take it, and it would not let go no matter how hard one tried. People had to turn it upside down and pour boiling water on it before they could get the turquoise.

Once upon a time, a monk in Drepung Monastery hid many silver coins he owned in the cracks of the wall. After his death, he was reborn as a spider walking around on the silver, making a rustling sound. When the monks next door heard the sound, they went to check (and found the silver coins and the spider.) They brought the silver coins and the spider that has serious evil karmas to Guru Yedo(?)(绕多上师). The guru said: "Give them to that butcher." The butcher ate the spider in one bite, and liberated it with a snap of his fingers.

A bhikkhu was reborn as a snake because of his clinging to monk's robes.

The wife of the patron Saba(?)(萨巴施主) was very beautiful. She died when she went to an island in the sea with other merchants to get treasures. She was reborn into a snake after death because of her attachment to the beauty of her own body, moving through the mouth and nose of her corpse. This is what Venerable Maudgalyayana saw with his own eyes. What is the use of clinging to the beautiful outer skin of the impure body filled with negative karmas and delusion? In fact, the body is like filth painted with beautiful colors or thorns wrapped in silk and satin.

A shepherd boy was attached to a stone spring(*). He was reborn as a stone spring snake under his bed after death.

(*a tool for throwing stones used in herding animals in Tibet)

An old man was attached to a lighter. He was reborn as a tortoise (shaped like a lighter) after death, with two ends of the iron part piercing his head and tail respectively".

There are many similar koans.

There are also many cases of people who were attached to their livestock and were reborn as their family's livestock after death:

A poor patron in Savatthi was attached to a cow with a back injury. He was reborn as a small insect in the wound on the cow's back after death, and immediately started eating (the pus and blood in the wound). He experienced seven births and deaths every day. 

Attachment to properties and objects is the root of suffering, and it can even bring disaster in the current life: Once upon a time, the Buddha and Ananda went to beg for alms, and saw a gold vase on the road. The Buddha said, "This is a venomous snake, it will soon spit poison." After saying this, they left. An old man who was cutting grass there heard this and thought: I should go and see where the snake is. So he went to see it, and saw a gold vase. He thought: The monks' venomous snake are so beautiful, I am willing to be entangled by such a snake. So he took the gold vase back home. After hearing about this, King Pasenadi began to investigate. The old man kept it secret and was almost sentenced to death. The "Chapter on Causes and Conditions" also says: "Fools are ruined by wealth, they do not care about future lives or liberation, their aspirations are ruined by desire, ruining themselves and others." It also says: "Just like holding a black snake by the waist, it will ruin those who do not follow the Dharma."

The same is true for attachment to close friends: In the past, a man had impure acts with another person's wife, and was killed by the woman's husband. His consciousness was reborn in the woman's womb because he was attached to her. The sutra says that some people who are attached to woman will be reborn as parasites in a woman's stomach after death. There are also many who are reborn as demons among their close friends.

Except for virtuous spiritual friends, there are no helpful companions in samsara. The Vinaya says: "One is born alone, dies alone, suffers alone, there are no friends and companions in samsara." It also says: "If one does not meet unenlightened ordinary people, he will be happy." Therefore, we should abandon, as if abandoning corpses, ignorant and unvirtuous friends who are like enemies.

The body, objects for living, family, relatives and friends, are all destroyed by the four aspects of impermanence. The four aspects of impermanence refer to  when there is birth there is death, when there is accumulation there is exhaustion, when there is gathering there is separation, when there are great heights there is downfall. For example, King Pasenadi was the fifth greatest king in the world and a great patron of the Dharma. In the end, his throne was usurped by the prince and he wandered around from place to place. On the way, he was so hungry that he begged for food and got a handful of radishes, and drank some cold water. As a result, he fainted on the road due to indigestion. The speeding carriages came and went stirring up clouds of dust, and his mouth was filled with dust. Finally, he died of hiccups.

No one knows where he and others will be at this time next year, so we must think about the impermanence and uncertainty of all matters. As Shantideva said, "Everything is impermanent, who is to be attached to such  impermanences." Not only will impermanence come one day, but these temporary appearances are also without substance, like dreams and illusions. The sutra says: "All beings in the three realms are like scenes in a dream..." Bodhisattva Nagarjuna also said: "Such impermanence and non-selfness, there is no refuge, no protector, no place for existence, samsara is as unreal as a banana tree, your majesty should have aversion and abandon it."

After reflecting on these teachings, I hope we will not have any attachment  to anything, and let go of everything from now on.

All countries, places, and homes are like

the lands and homes of a dream –

may I recognize their lack of reality.

If one is attached to his hometown, or the territory that one belongs to, he will be reborn as a creature such as a small insect or above in these places in the future. If one is attached to his home, it will be like the following koan: In the past, a stingy old woman was extremely strongly attached to her properties and home. After her death, she was reborn as a bitch in her family. Her old habits revived, and she was worried about thieves coming day and night, so she walked surround her home to protect it. Most of today's smart family dogs must be the reincarnations of their family such as parents who are stingy. Therefore, may we realize that these are just like the places and homes in dreams, which are not real. It can be seen that all appearances are dreams brought about by the obscurations of the great oblivion of ignorance and delusion. Therefore, people with wisdom can observe all phenomena, which appear with clarity but has no real existence, through the rational analysis that eliminates the four extremes and realize that everything is without inherent existence. So they can stay away from desire and attachment. This is the supreme key of the path for liberation. As Nagarjuna Bodhisattva once said: "Just as a painter, painted a terrifying image of a Rakshasa, the image frightened him, so are those who suffer from samsara." 

All appearances in the three realms of samsara are indeed not real and empty. If you often think in your mind that "it is not real, it is emptiness", it will be more or less helpful to eliminate the clinging of seeing them as real. Even if one just has doubts about it (that it may be reasonable that they are empty), it will be of great benefit. As the scholar Arya-deva said: "Those with little merit, will not doubt about whether things are empty. If anyone just has a little doubt, it can destroy the three realms of samsara." 

From now on, we must eliminate the strong attachment to anything. Frequently and repeatedly practice and visualize: I don’t crave anything, everything is unnecessary, what use are these illusory things that are impermanent, unstable, without true existence, that deceive unenlightened people? If one clings to phenomena as having true existence and is attached to and has desire for them when he is alive, and just saying I will not be attached to them at the time of death, it is of no benefit.

The consciousness in dreams is sharper than the consciousness during the day. Furthermore, the consciousness in the bardo is nine times sharper than the consciousness at the time of death. So if one thinks of it for a moment, he will be reborn in a body of the lower realms, etc. From now on, we must let go of everything and focus on visualizing and thinking about rebirth in Sukhavati. We must keep it in mind constantly for the rest of our lives. This is very important, and this is also the rebirth (Phowa) practice. For those of us who have not accomplished a certain state, there is no other teaching that can cut off the bardo. In other words, although there are (other teachings), if you do not practice them, there is no other special and more superior teaching for rebirth at the end of life than this.

F.3, Aspire to be reborn in Sukhavati:

To attain the pure realm of Sukhavati

from the inescapable ocean of samsara

is like being liberated from a prison of great evil –

may I not look back towards samsara.

The reasoning of being reborn in Sukhavati by eliminating attachment: The negative word "inescapable" is used to describe the situation where it is temporarily difficult to be liberated (samsara not inescapable for ever)#. May those who have committed serious misdeeds leave the long and unliberated period of time like the place where the whales live - the terrifying sea of samsara, and go to the western pure realm Sukhavati without looking back, just like a criminal who has committed a serious crime is freed from prison. The prisoner who escaped from prison is fearful of the punishment and the suffering of the prison and does not want to look back. Similarly, if one thinks of the above-mentioned evils of samara, one will not want to look back.

Looking back refers to being attached to worldly objects of pleasure. For example, there was a guru who, while on his way to a pure realm, heard a monk playing his beautiful musical instrument. He looked back and was reborn as a demon.

To cut all snares of attachment is like a

vulture being liberated from a net –

may I thus fly away towards the western sky.

Having travelled beyond innumerable

universes in an instant,

may I reach the realm of Sukhavati.

Therefore, may we completely cut off all attachments, like an eagle escaping from a snare, like the king of the geese flying, or a white silk being blown by the wind. May the bardo consciousness, which is like a gust of wind, crosses countless worlds in an instant through the western sky, and reaches Sukhavati. For example, although the distance is very long if traveled on foot, the mind can think of it in an instant. Similarly, the unobstructed bardo manomaya-kaya (mental body) is blown by the wind of good karma, accompanied by the power of aspiration, and further driven by the joy and faith, does not have to go through the hardships of a long journey (it can be reborn in Sukhavati in an instant).